Thoughts on Making a Mara Jade Outfit (Emporer's Hand) & Blaster Packs...

My awesome little sister has been kicking around the idea of dressing up as Mara Jade one day. Earlier this week I sketched out some ideas.

I love Mara Jade. She's just so...real.
 
I mean, you've got your stock sci-fi/fantasy women who run around with weapons & perfect makeup while doing cool things. Sometimes they don't make much sense.
The better written ones, the girls like too...
And then there's Mara.

She's so incredibly real. She thinks like a real girl. She acts like a real girl. She even picks fights (with Luke) like a real girl. I feel like I know her in real life. Actually, she constantly reminds me of my said younger sister...

Mara has self respect, is incredibly loyal but holds grudges more than she should, always keeps her word, can be a little bossy but knows how to take orders, outwardly seems unsentimental, has a thing about protecting families & babies, can be rather grumpy, and really really really cares about doing the right thing.
She's exactly who you want at your back in a firefight.


Anyways, I had some preliminary ideas for what her outfit would look like.
I looked up cosplayers versions and was underwhelmed. I don't think a lot of people understand her. They try to make her look kind of sexy & femme-fatal-ish, like Black Widow. Mara isn't Black Widow. (For one thing, she's a blazing idealist who crushes any feelings she has, and also whose version of letting a guy know she likes him is by listing all his faults and lecturing him on his character development...I love her)

And she doesn't have time to look sexy. She's too busy killing pirates. And she sure doesn't want them to think she looks sexy. She wants to be respected, and feared.

She does wear a tight-fitting black combat suit for practical reasons. But I didn't really like any of the cosplay versions I saw....they were all too busy trying to look hot, and didn't seem to think through the practical ramifications of it. I think the whole point of a leather combat outfit is to give minimal armour with maximal mobility.

But I thought this picture I thought was decent.

Mostly because it gets her face right, idealistic and not covered in make-up (seriously, who would Mara be trying to impress? I just can't see her pausing mid-mission to reapply lipstick. I mean, Princess Leia had to wear makeup because she was a Princess and all. But Mara was an judge & ninja & executioner. Its a different job description)


To maximize mobility, but still have some protection, I thought it would be a leather suit with padded leather panels in key places where they wouldn't hinder mobility as much. So that would be around her torso and thighs. (the calves would be protected by tall boots).

Because the removable sleeves did hinder mobility a bit (in Allegiance she keeps them in her backpack because of this, while taking out the pirate ship) I figured they would probably have more serious armor on them, like pauldrons and long bracers.

So here's my ideas

We'll see if I every manage to make something like this for my little sister. I know with all the leather, it will be hours of handstitching leather padding, etc. But it would be a labor of awesomeness, like the Imperial Grand Admiral uniform I hope to make for Josh one day....

I thought I'd start with the much more humble goal of working on a blaster pack/ thigh holster/ glorified non-dorky hip-pack.

Some thigh holsters from the star wars universe...

I loved the first season of this show so much. I really wasn't expecting too, but its so refreshingly heroic & idealistic, and the old-married-people vibe in it is priceless. A post will probably come soon.

The basic design is 2 straps from the belt, coming down at an angle to the holster/pack, which itself straps to the leg just above the knee.

on a person.

Han's holster, laid flat.

My idea, laid flat.

 So, off to find leather belts and learn how to sew and rivet leather....

I will probably spend a good amount of time on duck cloth mockups first. These are my (non-secret) Christmas Presents for my younger sisters, so I have a good bit of time to figure this out.

Side Laced Bracer pattern alteration

 

If you want to make a bracer, but want the lacing to be on the side, instead of the bottom, follow the original directions, and draft your pattern, and cut it out out of paper.

Then tape it shut over your arm. With a marker, draw a line where you want the new opening/lacing to be. Then cut along the markered line, and lay it flat, this is your new pattern.

It will look something like this.

Here graphic I made that I hope helps...

Remember that the left and right sides are the mirrored versions of eachother (you'll just have to flip the pattern when cutting out the other side).

Remember this when you are sewing them together, as when they are sidelaced, there will be a right bracer, and a left bracer.

Quilted Leather Bracer and UnderBracer Tutorial: DIY for under $10

Here is my tutorial of how I made these awesome quilted bracers/vambraces.

Part 1: Drafting a Bracer Pattern based on the Vambraces of Gondor

Part 2: Sewing the underbracers, How to Quilt Bracers, and a Lacing Ring Solution
Part 3: Assembling the Bracers: How to make Thin Leather look like Thick Leather

Part 4: Inserting Grommets/Eyelets without a hole punch, and Painting the Leather with shoepolish
Part 5: Glam Shots of the finished project

THE FINISHED BRACERS Making Bracers/Vambrances/Gauntlets Part 5.

Here, I glory in the bracers I made my siblings for Christmas. The 5 part tutorial is here.

Making Bracers/Vambraces/Gauntlets Part 4: Inserting Grommets/Eyelets into Leather without a hole punch, Dyeing Leather with Shoe Polish

(All parts of tutorial listed on this page)
See tutorial part 1,and  part 2, and part 3
FINISHING (Grommets, Dyeing)

Note the kind of "weathered" look. I achieved this with fabric dye and shoe polish. (plus some ill fated salad dressing) See below.

How to insert grommets into leather without a Hole Punch.

1. Using an exacto blade, and a pencil to insert 1/4" eyelets without a hole punch.
2. First, cut a (small!) slit where you want the eyelet to go. 
3. Then force a pencil through it, underside out. 3x. It should feel difficult, as the leather stretches. Then send the pencil through the 4th time, from the leather side (this pushes the leather in). 
4. Now insert the tall side of the grommet from the leather side. I used a pencil to help push it through.
5. Then flip it over, and using a fingernail or the tip of the pencil, poke all the unruly threads down around the lip of the grommet.
6. Now put on the shallow side of the grommet.
7. Put it on the eyelet "anvil" and hammer the "tool" part onto it, making sure to rotate the tool while hammering.
8. DONE.

Re-dying leather bracers.
 
To change the color of the leather, dye can work, but it kind of hangs out on top and rubs off. (I used RIT dye orange).  I didn't like the look of it alone, and it seemed to come off to easily. However, it works very well underneath shoe polish. I had greenish brown leather, and I wanted a warmer brown leather, so I rubbed orange RIT dye on all of them, and then rubbed them all down with brown shoe polish and brown shoe cream after I was done quilting them. I liked the uneven color, it gave more depth. If you want even color, shoe polish it before quilting.

I had a bad experience with hand-made conditioner (salad dressing, basically vinegar and olive oil). It blotched and stained funny. I guess if you want darker stains on it to look weathered, then go for it.

The 5 part tutorial is here.

Making Bracers/Vambraces/Gauntlets Part 3: Assembling the Bracers, How to make thin leather into thick leather (or at least act like it)

See Tutorial Part 1 and Part 2 here 


The 5 part tutorial is here.

Assembling the Bracers
STEP 1: Cut out your pieces
You will now cut out your bracer pattern in leather, in your 'sandwich filling' quilting medium (batting or felt or fleece. I found felt to be a bit stiff for me, and batting to be too expensive, so I used fleece. A fleece blanket actually...), and in canvas/broadcloth etc whose color roughly matches your leather. I was using brown leather, and I used a brown twill canvas that was already somewhat broken in (my favorite skirt in college...).

Leather, Canvas, and Fleece

STEP 2: SEW YOUR MIDDLE AND BOTTOM PIECES TOGETHER
Now I found that trying to assemble all 3 pieces together at once meant pieces shifting around, etc. which is a pain. Especially since even if you rip stitches out of leather you have a little trail of needle holes.
It saved a lot of time if I quickly sewed the filler/fleece to my bottom canvas piece first, so to make the next step simpler when I sewed it to the actual leather.

Ta-Da, Fleece sewn to canvas.

 Note, if your fleece sticks out a bit past your canvas, trim it to the canvas. Its like, we don't want the sandwich filling to be coming out the middle (especially in my classy bright blue) so we want the top and bottom sandwich pieces to be bigger than the filling.

STEP 3: SEW THE LEATHER TO THE CANVAS/FLEECE PIECE, LEAVING ONE SIDE OPEN
You'll want to put the "right sides together" which means, the side of your leather you want showing, against the canvas side. So on the outside you see the wrong side of your leather, and the fleece. It's like sewing a pillow case. And like a pillow-case, you'll want to leave one side open so you can flip it inside out.
I sewed across the wrist, down one side, across the bottom, and stopped at the other side.

Note, I left one side open.

STEP 4: FLIP IT INSIDE OUT, SEW DOWN THE OPEN SIDE
Now, we'll flip it inside out, (or rather, right side out).

Ta-da...now we'll sew down the open side.

Now its looking a lot more like a bracer. But note in the picture below how "puffy" it is, it looks like a sleeping bag, and not like a thick piece of leather.

Puffy sleeping bag effect.

STEP 5: TOPSTITCH IT ALL AROUND THE EDGES
This is where you make it look like a thick piece of leather. It will now behave like one piece, and less like a puffy sleeping bag with the opening sewn shut.

Top-stitched all around the edges.

No more puffy effect. Acts like a thick piece of leather.

 This technique works with thin leather for everything, even making hauberks out of thin coat leather. The trick is in the topstitching (and quilting does it even more) in anchoring the thin leather to a thick base, so it bends like its thick (and doesn't shift and wrinkle)

I should have used it more in Josh's Faramir 1.0 hauberk, instead I left it at the 'puffy sleeping bag stage' and so while the thin leather was attached to canvas, it wasn't anchored, and thus still shifted around and wrinkled when my son pushed on it.

Here, it looks great, because there's not little toddler putting stress on it.

Here, you can see how its wrinkling---because I didn't anchor it to the canvas properly. Thus when Isaiah stuck his hand there, he could get the leather to still wrinkle and look thin. If it were anchored better to the canvas, it would not have wrinkled.

In the next post, we'll cover quilting the leather, putting in grommets (without a hole punch...who has 1/4" hole punches lying around their house?), and weathering/dyeing it.

 COMING SOON....

VERY IMPORTANT TIPS FOR SEWING WITH LEATHER
First off, use the thin cheap(er) leather to quilt. You don't want to be forcing hauberk thickness of leather through your sewing machine. You can (with grit and determination) hand sew the thick stuff. Killing your sewing machine is not worth saving a little time. Test on a scrap, if your sewing machine sounds like its straining, don't do it. (Also, thick leather won't quilt very well anyway)

I CANNOT STRESS THE IMPORTANCE ENOUGH, OF USING A BIG NEEDLE. Thinner needles will bend (especially with all the layers of fabric, quilting etc) and cause you all sorts of tension problems. SO. NOT. WORTH. IT.
You can get a pack of sewing machine needles(6 needles) from Walmart for 2 bucks. There will be some size 11 (quilting cotton), some size 14 (jeans), and some size 17 or 19 or something (I forget).
USE THE BIGGEST ONE. 
I never paid much attention to needle size, and spent a lot of frustration on bent needles and messes of thread that ensued. This size 19 (or 17?) one has lasted me through 8 sets of bracers without bending so far. So much time saved.

Another thing sewing with leather (if it isn't all suede-like) is that the 'waterproof' side has friction issues with my presser foot. I could probably get some fancy foot that would fix this, or sew with a layer of tissue paper, etc, but all I did was sew with my cloth side up, and my leather side against the face-plate (which didn't have as many friction issues.)

I fiddled with stitch length, I liked something between 8 and 9 stitches per inch, it seemed to give a darker 'line' and thus seemed a tad more like tooling. (But not so tight that you essentially perforate the leather, and make it tear easily). Figure out what stitch length you want on a scrap, with the proper layers of quilting.

A NOTE ON QUILTING: It is essential that you don't quilt the lines too close together, or the design doesn't really have space to "puff" and look 3 dimensional. I found that when I quilted lines closer than 1/2" apart, the whole thing just went flat and boring.
Also, the design seems to puff up more as you vigorously rub it with shoe polish on a cloth when you are done quilting. If you don't want to dye or polish it, just rub it with a cloth at the end. It helps the whole thing fluff up and look cool.

Making Bracers/Vambraces/Gauntlets Part 2: Sewing the underbracers, How to Quilt Bracers, and a Lacing Ring Solution

The 5 part tutorial is here.

Making Under-Bracers. (Part 1 on drafting the pattern here)

Behold! Quilted underbracers!!!

I will post a full tutorial on making quilted bracers at some point, but for now here are some tips.

To make comfy underbracers, I used a bottom layer of flannel, an inbetween layer of polarfleece, and a top layer of faux sued fabric. (can buy at Hobby Lobby with coupon for $6/yrd , or buy faux suede shirt from a thriftstore...) You can make at least 5 sets of underbracers out of a yard of fabric.


Trace pattern onto broadcloth/flannel layer (the bottom layer) on the right side (so you can see it.) Sew the pieced together by stacking them bottom layer-top layer-in between layer (because you are essentially making a sleeping bag inside out, you are going to flip this thing inside out) Sew down all sides but one, then flip it inside out so the top and bottom layer are showing and the in between layer is in between. If this confuses you, check out part 3 of the tutorial where I show this in gory detail.


Quilting Tips (retracing steps like drawings in 1st grade, backtacking to keep unsightly unravels, have needle deeply in when pivoting, manually controlling to get where you want)

USE BIG NEEDLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (16 or 17 in those little walmart packs. NOT a wimpy little 11 or a 9 here...this isn't thin cotton dresses)

Lacing solution. I didn't want there to be edges, or leather cord stuck onto your arm. Its not comfortable. Spiral lacing works (as well as x-lacing) but I didn't want any leather cord sticking onto the forearm.
 I wanted the edges to overlap, and the lacing to hold it down smoothly, and there to be room for it to be adjustable.
Hence I made by own lacing rings and sewed them on, at least an inch from the edge, giving a nice bit of overlap.

See, no uncomfortable leather cord sticking to your arm on the underside.

How to make your own lacing rings.
Supplies: 18 gauge steel wire, pencil, wire cutter, 2 sets of needle nose pliers, hammer
1.Wrap the pencil with the wire. Slide/wiggle/pull it off.
2. It will look like a demented slinky. Merrily cut through it with the wire cutters.
3. Now use the needle nose pliers to readjust the ends of each 'jump ring' so that they meet better
4. Hammer them to make them sturdier.

You'll want to sew them on with a thick thread, ideally thicker than the slit in the jump ring, as jump rings have a habit of working themselves free if the thread is thinner than the slit. Using all 6 strands of embroidery floss or yarn (with a yarn needle) should work.

Sew the rings on,  nicely in a row, with overlap from the edges..

This is the underside (the comfy flannel part that touches your arm). Here you can see the underside of the quilting.

TA-DA. Underbracers that look like suede but are much much cheaper. And are very comfortable.

 

 They are super comfortable. I wore them all day on bare arms and barely noticed.